


The Day After Valentine's Day

by winter_hiems



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men Legacy
Genre: Acceptance, Autistic David Haller, Canon Autistic Character, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Charles is a Sweetheart, Charles is a dad, Coming Out, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Feelings, M/M, Old mutants in love, Teenage Mutants in Love, Valentine's Day, crack with feelings, dad!Charles, mild crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-26 20:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20748401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winter_hiems/pseuds/winter_hiems
Summary: “So,” said David, “When were you going to tell me that you’d slept with Magneto?”-David finds out that Charles and Erik are dating. Things go better than expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter One, in which David and Charles both pretend that nothing much happened the previous day.

David smoothed down his crumpled shirt, and reminded himself that his father had no reason to suspect how he’d spent the previous night. 

(He had taken Ruth stargazing, and there had been soft, urgent kisses, and then there had been a hotel room, and then…)

He had two things working in his favour. 

Firstly, his excuse. If his dad asked where he’d been with Ruth the previous night, David would tell him that they’d gone stargazing and fallen asleep. It was very close to the truth, and he thought it sounded quite plausible. 

Secondly, the fact that parents generally didn’t like to think about their children’s sex lives. 

He started to walk towards the mansion. On mornings when he didn’t wake up tucked against Ruth, he would go down to the lake to meditate. Today he would pretend that he’d done the same. 

There was no reason for his father to guess how he’d spent Valentine’s Day. 

*

Charles straightened his tie, and reminded himself that his son had no reason to suspect how he’d spent the previous night. 

(Erik had arrived and apologised, and there had been tears and a kiss, and then Charles’ bedroom, and then…)

He had two things working in his favour. 

Firstly, David had taken Ruth stargazing the previous night. By the time they had gotten back to the mansion, Charles and Erik would have been fast asleep, and Erik’s thoughts would be blending in with the other sleeping minds in the house. Unless David was looking for something out of the ordinary, he wouldn’t have detected Erik’s presence. 

Secondly, the fact that children generally didn’t like to think about their parents’ sex lives. 

He started to arrange the red roses Erik had given him into the vase on his desk. David probably wouldn’t ask about them, but if he did then Charles was sure that he’d be able to come up with a plausible excuse. 

There was no reason for his son to guess how he’d spent Valentine’s Day. 

He sensed David come in the front door, back from his morning meditation, and called him into his office for a chat. It would have been strange if he hadn’t asked David to talk to him, and the last thing he needed was for David to think that he was behaving strangely. 

After he’d shut the door behind himself, David turned to face Charles. He paused, then frowned. “So,” said David, “When were you going to tell me that you’d slept with Magneto?” 

For almost a minute, Charles could say nothing. He felt as if he were sinking into a deep, dark pit, full of everything he’d ever hidden from David. When he finally found himself able to speak, all he could get out was: “How…”

David folded his arms. “It is all over your surface thoughts. Seriously, you need to hide that shit before someone else sees. I don’t want in-depth knowledge of how that dickhead kisses you.” 

“You’re angry,” Charles murmured, knowing that he was making an understatement. From what he could glean from David’s surface thoughts, his son’s mind was seething. 

“Absolutely fucking right, dad. Seriously, I thought you had standards.” 

Charles frowned, confusion momentarily overshadowing his panic. “I’m sorry?” 

“In university you dated Moira MacTaggert. Sensible. Smart. She has a Nobel Prize now. Then you dated mum – good call on that, by the way. Sensible. Smart. A successful lawyer, and now an ambassador. After that, Lilandra Neramani. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure if dating a literal alien was a good idea, but she was sensible and smart and a fucking empress.” David huffed. “And now what? You’re going to date Magneto? He’s an arsehole and he’s hurt you so many times because of his shitty ideology.” 

“So, in conclusion, you don’t like this because you think I can do better.” 

David slumped down into the chair across Charles’ desk. “Yeah. The guy lives in a cave, for fuck’s sake!”

Charles played with his hands in his lap. “I thought it might be because… I mean, he’s a man.” 

“C’mon dad, you know I’m not homophobic.” 

“Sometimes it’s different,” whispered Charles, “When that person is family.” 

“Well, it isn’t for me.” David took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, are the two of you together now, or is it just going to be a one-time thing?” 

“We’re together. He’s going to step down as the leader of the Brotherhood. We’re both… tired of fighting each other.” It wasn’t an easy thing for Charles to say out loud, but all David did was nod. 

“When are you going to tell the X-Men?” 

Charles couldn’t meet David’s eyes. “I thought I might not. It would be difficult for some of them to accept, and I don’t want to upset anyone.” 

“It would help some people.” 

“Who?” 

“Bobby Drake. Gay, and still in the closet. Logan’s bi but he keeps it to himself. They aren’t the only ones. There are plenty of closeted kids at the mansion, and barely any who are out. If they had someone to look up to… I mean, I’m not saying you have to come out. There would be a media shitstorm, and you don’t have to go through that if you don’t want to. I just think…” David paused and fixed Charles with a look. “Surely you must be tired of hiding this?” 

“I’ll think about it,” Charles said softly. “I’m bisexual,” he continued, “Dear God, I’ve never actually said that out loud before. I’m bisexual.” His hands were shaking. 

“Yeah,” said David. “I figured as much.” 

“It’s important to me that you know... with your mother, I wasn’t trying to be straight.” 

“I know.” And then David, who rarely showed any kind physical affection, stood, and walked around to Charles’ side of the desk. He leaned down and hugged his father. It was a little uncomfortable and a little awkward, and it was over very quickly, but Charles would never dream of complaining. 

He’d been hiding this for close to fifty years. David had been right. He was tired. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that Charles will come out publicaly eventually, but not straight away. When he does, David will stand behind him and glare at anyone who might say something homophobic. 
> 
> As an autistic person, I’m enjoying writing David as canon autistic in this. His speech is abrupt, and he’s not great with physical affection. On the flip side, he also finds it easy to accept the situation as it stands: his father is dating Magneto, and that’s that. Even if he does think his dad could do better. 
> 
> I should probably be posting this on the 15th of February, but screw it, the fic’s done now. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. The characters are owned by Marvel. I am not profiting financially from this story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: this chapter contains brief, moderate threat.

Erik Lehnsherr returned to consciousness slowly. 

Before he opened his eyes, he tried to remember exactly how he’d gotten knocked out. 

He’d walked into his bedroom, and there had been someone standing in the corner. His helmet had lifted off his head, and then, nothing. 

A telepath, then. Probably telekinetic as well, unless there were two mutants working together. 

He was bound with rope, and he couldn’t sense any metal within his range. Whoever had captured him had even removed the pins he’d sewn into his clothing for emergencies. His throat was free of a suppression collar, which meant that somehow he’d been transported somewhere with literally no metal. The ground he knelt on was hard-packed dust. 

“I know that you’re awake. Quit pretending.” 

Erik opened his eyes and straightened. David Haller was standing above him, carefully dressed in clothes with no metal tags or zips. Erik knew that whatever the boy wanted to do to him, there would be no stopping it. Haller would see any escape plan coming a mile away. If he wanted to, he could rip Erik apart with a mere thought. 

“You’re right. I could do that.” Haller’s expression was calm. Bored, even. 

Looking around, Erik saw that they were in a desert, with blank scrubland as far as the eye could see. 

“It’s the Negev Desert,” Haller told him, not even trying to hide the fact that he was reading Erik’s mind. 

“Why did you kidnap me?” 

Haller crossed his arms. “Don’t bullshit me. You know what you did last night. Or in this case, _who_ you did.” 

Realisation dawned. “Charles told you about us.” 

The boy snorted. “As if. I worked it out myself. Dad isn’t great at hiding things from me.” 

“I take it that you don’t approve.” 

Haller crouched down so that his face was level with Erik’s. “My dad had made the decision to date you. Personally, I think it is a terrible decision, but it’s his choice. Fuck, maybe the two of you will even be happy together. However, you should consider this a warning. Killing you would break dad’s heart, but if you hurt him then I. Will. Maim. You.” 

“...Understood.” 

Haller stood, and the ropes vanished from Erik’s body. He wondered if they’d ever been there in the first place, or if they were merely a projection from Haller’s mind. 

“I’m not giving you your helmet back,” said Haller. “If you’re serious about quitting the Brotherhood then you won’t need it anymore.” 

“What will you do with it?” 

“As if I’d tell you.” 

“Now that I’m with Charles, we should really make an attempt to be civil with each other. You know that I’ve always respected your strength.” 

Haller sighed. “Are you shitting me? Dad might be able to ignore the time you shot him, and the time you punched him, and the multiple times you’ve yelled at him, and the time you left him to die, and the time you were going to kill me, but I won’t.” He made a face. “Ugh, I can’t believe he’s still attracted to you after all that.” 

Erik brushed the dirt off his clothes and turned to look at the boy who might be his step-son one day. “I do want to make this work, David.” 

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” 

“Not just with Charles. The two of us might be seeing a lot more of each other. Maybe we should try and find something in common.” 

David bit his lip and stared off into the distance for a few moments. “Do you want to go and punch some neo-Nazis?” 

“Always.” 

“No killing.” 

“Why?” 

“I have a fucking moral code, Lehnsherr. And you can’t keep killing people if you want dad to like you.” 

“Charles will understand.” 

David turned to face Erik. “No he won’t. I think you need to admit that I might know dad in ways that you don’t.” 

“Like what?” Erik snapped. 

David grinned. “Dad prefers white roses.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to anyone who realised that towards the end of this fic Erik starts to think of David as ‘David’ instead of ‘Haller’. This was because Erik is starting to think of David as potential close family, instead of someone that he doesn’t know very well. 
> 
> In the comics David hangs out in the Negev Desert sometimes, so I figured that he’d bring Erik there if he wanted a metal-free chat. 
> 
> When it comes to David listing everything Erik’s put Charles through, I kept it canon. Here’s the list: 
> 
> ** The time Erik shot Charles:** X-Men First Class 
> 
> ** The time Erik punched Charles:** X-Men First Class
> 
> ** The times Erik yelled at Charles:** Take your pick, there’s plenty of choice.
> 
> **The time Erik left Charles to die:** X-Men United (X2)
> 
> ** The time Erik was going to kill David:** Legion Quest
> 
> No wonder David’s confused that Charles still wants to date Erik. 
> 
> And yeah, David’s going to make sure that Erik treats his dad right.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcome <3


End file.
